Final Moments - Warriors
by radiioactivefox
Summary: One-shots of deaths of the characters from the Warriors series. What were they feeling in their final moments? What were their thoughts, regrets, hopes? If you like some of the chapters, please suggest a Warrior's final moments I should write about!
1. Rainflower

Rainflower crouched beside the river, lapping calmly at the water.

She could see her reflection clearly. She had pale, soft gray fur, and dark blue eyes. No scars. She imagined the day that she'd see the first white fur begin to grow on her muzzle, and had to pause in her drinking. Suddenly, her chest began to ache - although she had a sneaking suspicion the source of the pain was her heart.

Rainflower then saw herself, on the day that felt like it was only seconds ago, rather than seasons.

Shellheart, her best friend, was padding up to her, a flower in his jaws. His eyes shone with happiness as he set it at her paws, and she heard his voice in her ears as he confessed his love for her, and his request to be her mate. She saw herself, heard her own voice, agreeing, and then later, in another memory, saw herself telling Shellheart that he was going to be a father.

_I used to be so happy.._ Rainflower thought, closing her eyes. But then Stormkit - no, he was Crookedjaw, now - had had his _accident,_ and had ruined her life. She had had big dreams, for both of her sons. She had wanted them to both become leaders some day. But Stormkit's disobedience had cost her her hopes, and had cost him his name. No longer would he be Stormstar, the powerful leader, he would be Crookedjaw, a warrior named after his injury. He was no son of hers.

_But he's your son,_ a voice argued.

_No. He's not. _

_He was a kit.. kits can't possibly know better, and it was an accident.._

_Oakkit knew better!_ Rainflower willed the voice to silence itself, and thankfully, it did.

Rainflower resumed her drink, and rested her paws in the cool water.

_I'm right,_ she told herself, staring again at her reflection. _My son died the day he fell into the river. Crookedjaw is just what's left of him._

Suddenly, the pebbles along the shore began to tremble beneath her paws. Rainflower snapped her head up, and whirled around.

"Who's there?" She hissed, but the question was unnecessary - within moments, the scent of dog was everywhere. It filled her nose, clouded her thoughts, covered her eyes. The dog - the _real_ dog - then burst from the undergrowth, a snarl on its face.

It glared at Rainflower, and before she could react, it lunged at her. One of its paws struck the side of her head and she lost her balance. Before she could even react, she felt a sharp pain in the opposite side of her head, and then both, as she landed in the river, blackness beginning to cloud her vision. To her shock, she was frozen. She tried to move, to get up, but couldn't.

"Help!.." she croaked weakly, feeling a fierce pounding in her head.. her head, it hurt, she must have fallen onto something.. "..help.."

Rainflower could hear the dog, still snarling, but it was chased away almost immediately by some unknown cat, and she was alone again.

_Why didn't they help me?_ she thought.

As the pain continued, Rainflower waited. And waited.

Briefly, she thought she felt a cat's eyes on her, felt a burning sensation, but still no cat came to help.

_What kind of death is this, StarClan..?_ she thought angrily. _Why do I deserve this? I don't even get to fight back, I'm powerless!_

_Just like Stormkit was, when he fell,_ a voice whispered, and Rainflower tried to lift her head, but couldn't. The voice continued, _He was powerless to stop what happened to him at Sunningrocks, yet you blamed him for it his whole life._

_It was his fault!_ Rainflower thought, anger surging through her, almost, but not quite, blocking out the pain.

The voice ignored her. _You now will suffer how like Crookedjaw did - you struck your head on a rock when the dog knocked you over, Rainflower. You're dying, and you can't fight back, you can't prevent this._

_That's not fair!_ Rainflower cried. The pain was slowly growing worse, and this mysterious cat was only seeming to make it worse. She had confirmed it - she was about to die, and she couldn't stop it.. all she could think about was how she didn't deserve to die powerless, at the paws of a dog... _How is this fair? I've served my Clan faithfully my whole life!_

_Crookedjaw would've saved you, had I not told him that you were already dead, and that he should attack the dog instead.._ The voice laughed.

The blackness had all but covered Rainflower's vision.

_My name is Mapleshade. Remember it. _The voice whispered finally, and she felt the presence fading.

And then everything went black.


	2. Ashfur

**Thank you for the reviews and suggestions! :3 Keep sending them in, I'll probably do all of them!**

Ashfur walked along the edge of the WindClan border, lost in thought.

This was it - the night he had been waiting for, for moons - no, no.. for_ seasons._ Ever since the day the badgers had attacked ThunderClan, ever since Squirrelflight had chosen Brambleclaw over him. Ashfur had only given her everything - _everything_ - and she had tossed him aside like a piece of crowfood after the badger attack, just because Brambleclaw began to notice her again.

What had he done wrong? Why hadn't she chose him? He wondered, but he couldn't possibly come up with a reasonable answer. The only other cat who could was Hawkfrost - the RiverClan tom had seemed to understand _everything,_ but Brambleclaw had killed him. Ashfur didn't regret the day - he'd even tricked his apprentice, Birchpaw, just to get Firestar to fall into Hawkfrost's trap, but it had been worth it, and would have been worth much more if only Hawkfrost had succeeded.

Ashfur continued thinking about his past - mostly trying to find the moment that he had done something to make Squirrelflight choose Brambleclaw - as he patrolled the border, trembling with anticipation.

"I'm doing the right thing," he murmured to himself, looking up at the stars. If StarClan didn't want him to reveal Squirrelflight's secret, they would've sent clouds to cover the moon. But the sky was unusually clear. Ashfur could almost see Squirrelflight's horror, her kits' shame, and Brambleclaw's fury as he imagined how he would tell the Clans.

_Excuse me,_ he would cough loudly,_ but Squirrelflight has just told me she's been lying to her family for moons and that her kits aren't even hers._

Then, Squirrelflight, if she didn't confess who the kits belonged to, would hopefully be exiled, but at the very least disgraced.

Ashfur felt like he didn't need her anymore, anyway.. this was his revenge - he didn't need to love her to feel complete. She had broken his heart and hadn't even noticed. She deserved everything she had coming.

He briefly closed his eyes, stopping beside the stream. He couldn't help it - he just kept picturing the hurt, the pain on Squirrelflight's face. He was so wrapped up in his excitement that he didn't hear the pawsteps behind him, only the whistling of the air and ruffling of his fur as some unknown thing lunged at him.

_"Die!"_ His attacker hissed, although their voice sounded broken, and feeble.

"Get off!" Ashfur snarled, rearing onto his hind paws. No rogue was going to get in his way of his revenge! Ashfur threw the cat off of him, and heard a grunt of pain from his attacker. Before they had the chance to recover he whirled around to see who it was, and nearly fell over in his surprise.

"Hollyleaf!" he spat, taking a step toward her. Her green eyes were wild, and her fur unkempt. But her claws were sheathed - why? "What do you think you're doing?"

"You can't tell everyone!" Hollyleaf cried, rising to her paws. "Not until we find out who our real parents are, at least. You can't do this to Brambleclaw."

"I feel nothing for Brambleclaw!" Ashfur spat. "This is for Squirrelflight. Now, stay out of my way, Hollyleaf. You can't stop me from going." Keeping his claws sheathed, too, he swiped her over the head, knocking her to the ground. She didn't get up, so he turned around, determined to finish his patrol.

_Just stay calm.._ he ordered himself. _She's stupid. She won't get in your way again, or you'll - you'll have to kill her._

"You can't!" Hollyleaf screeched from behind him and he heard her pawsteps behind him. Ashfur tensed, but before he could turn around he felt her weight on his back and her teeth in his neck.

"Help!" Ashfur tried to yowl, but he was finding it difficult to breathe, and there was also the fact that his throat was beginning to bleed. She still had her fangs locked in the wound, but it felt strange - like she was nipping him, like he was prey. Was that what she thought of him as? A stupid animal? Not worth her time? Why was she trying to kill him quickly, why was she -

"I hate Squirrelflight as much as you do, Ashfur," Hollyleaf murmured, jumping off of him as he stopped trying to struggle. He just sunk onto the ground with a groan. "But.. you can't.." her eyes were misty. She couldn't seem to finish her sentence.

"Can't _what?"_ he growled softly. "You're _pathetic,_ Hollyleaf, you're -"

"Shut up!" Hollyleaf suddenly shrieked. She shoved him, although he was already down. "Just shut up." Her voice shook.

"You're going to live a lie the rest of your life?" Ashfur sneered up at her. Black spots had begun to swarm his vision.

"No! I just.." Hollyleaf trailed off. She looked more confused than anything. But Ashfur couldn't care less. She could rot too, with Squirrelflight, and her brothers. "I'm sorry.. I didn't... mean to, I.." Ashfur glared in her general direction, unable to see her very clearly because of the darkness creeping over his vision, about to snarl at her. Before he could, she suddenly grabbed his scruff, dragging him along the ground. To his surprise, he felt water lapping at his fur, and felt Hollyleaf set him down, halfway in the water.

"What are you doing?" he croaked weakly. What, was she going to drown him, too?

"No one can find your body, Ashfur.." Hollyleaf sounded like she was choking on the words, but the look she gave him was full of hate. "So I have to put you here. You'll go downstream, to the lake, and then you'll be gone for good.." she was washing his blood of her paws as she said this, as if she were merely telling him something casual, and not how she was disposing of his body.

Ashfur didn't reply. Rather, instead of hate, he just felt cold. The icy feeling was creeping from his toes and his tail-tip, and spreading throughout the rest of his body. His blood continued to stream out from where he'd been bitten, but it wasn't leaving any trace behind, it was mixing with the moving stream - the one he'd be in in a second.

To his own surprise, he had no last thoughts. All he could really think about was how she had ruined everything - how he'd never get to see the look of pain on Squirrelflight's face, or the hatred she'd suffer from Brambleclaw. The other Clans' hatred, too, for her lies. He had lost.

When the darkness finally obscured the remaining part of his vision, he didn't fight it. He felt himself slipping away, saw her stand up, felt her begin to push him into the stream, but he did_ nothing_ - nothing, until he got tired of waiting for death and opened his eyes to discover himself in a strange forest.

Half was bright, green, and sunny, and the other half was dark, brown, and had no light - only shadows.

_Choose,_ someone whispered. _You have to choose._

"Ashfur!" He heard Hawkfrost's voice, and saw the tom pad up to the border.

"Ashfur!" To his confusion, he also heard Brindleface's voice. She sounded scared. "Ashfur, come here."

"Ashfur," Hawkfrost growled. "Don't. If you still want revenge on Squirrelflight, come to me.. to us.." his tail flicked, and several of the shadows from his side of the forest began to move. Cats.

Ashfur only stared blankly at the two. _Revenge,_ he thought, but the word sounded strange. Did he really want revenge?

"Don't, Ashfur.." Brindleface pleaded, appearing on the opposite side. She stepped out from the undergrowth, looking much different than she had when he had last seen her - bloody, battered, lifeless.. killed by Tigerstar.. did she want revenge, he wondered? "It's over now, Ashfur. Come with me."

_Yes,_ Ashfur thought._ It's over. _

Ashfur crossed to his mother, hearing angry yowls and shrieks from Hawkfrost and the strange cats who had been with him. But he ignored them - Brindleface looked relieved to see him, and quickly touched noses with him when he reached her side of the forest. He let out a purr, feeling his anger slipping away.

"Welcome to StarClan, my son."


End file.
